LIVE CULTURES 012
CHEERS TO 1 YEAR OF GREAT THEATER AND EVEN GREATER COMPANY 🫶🏽
So here’s how it all began…
I was fresh off a social media cleanse and ‘hopped on’ to see if anyone would be interested in a trip to see Netherlands Dans Theater. (Exhibit A)
To my surprise, 30 people said yes and actually sent the venmo. (Exhibit B)
Getting out into the city with you all, and finding an alternative to break up the classic dinner-and-drinks combo, has been nothing short of a dream. In spite of a very minimal social presence, we’ve taken 112 folks to the theater in the last year, which, to me, is testament to strength of this very IRL community. Thank you to the friends that came, and then invited friends of friends, and also to the strangers who have become friends in the process.
Hosting field trips has made me realise how much I love watching people experience theater for the first time and FEEL something. Feeling is so often tossed aside in contemporary criticism. Much of the theater criticism I’ve read in mainstream magazines and papers, tries to grasp and make concrete the ephemeral, to be neatly packaged in a wrapper of judgement: good, bad, worth-a-watch, waste of time. Rarely did I finish reading with an understanding of how and what the critic felt (see also The New Critic’s Disease from
), so I started writing down my own feelings about the performances I saw, and apparently it resonates. Now, writing and theater-going have become a monthly ritual and I’m so grateful for you all taking the time to read.Speaking of reading, I’m grateful for this little live performance corner of Substack, and the friends who are also doing amazing work to spread the love of performance. A special shout and invitation to subscribe to:
for all things Black Broadway theatre (with ticket discounts a-plenty!)
for NYC dance and music listings (with the occasional wild card thrown in
Cheers to a new year of staying cultured and feeling it all! In honour of this 1-year anniversary, spread the 🫶🏽 and share Live Cultures with 2 new friends because we’re going big for the birthday!! (more below…)
LIVE CULTURES ANNIVERSARY FIELD TRIP: BOWL EP @ Vineyard Theater (Saturday May 9th)
We’re celebrating 1 year of good theater and even better company, the only way I know how: a field trip. This time we are off to see the WORLD PREMIER of Bowl EP, a new co-production between Vineyard Theatre (a breeding ground for next-gen talent) and National Black Theatre. It’s gonna be a full house (there are already 25 of you signed up with just a few seats remaining!). To join us, RSVP via Partiful. If you can’t make it to the anniversary field trip, the show is running until June 8 and will also be hosting a number of subsidised community nights!
LIVE CULTURES: APRIL PICKS
OPEN STUDIOS @ Center for Performance Research
(ongoing, next instalment: April 1)
OPEN STUDIOS is a series of work-in-progress showings held regularly throughout the year, organized by guest curators, and serves as an incubator for new work, inviting the public into the artistic process. This week, Open Studios presents These are precarious times…: Martita Abril, Natalie Green, Catherine Kirk, and Molly Poerstel, curated by Joanna Kotze.
Also check out CPR’s Open Lab, running weekly through April and featuring Artist in residence Kat Sotelo’s Catch & Release (Peep Show Experiments), where she invites the audience into her research surrounding seductive, ephemeral worlds – fantasies staged as a peep show for intimate consumption.
MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY @ Joyce Theater
(April 1st-13th)
Martha Graham is a classic. I wrote about their Gala performance ft. FKA Twigs (a.k.a. MOTHER) last year (see Live Cultures 002 for a primer). The company will be performing 3 different programs, two of which (A and C) focus on Graham’s psychodramas; dramatic expressions of the internal world. In the summer, I was lucky enough to attend a WIP sharing of some of the new work by choreographic duo Baye & Asa, that is being performed as part of Program A and C. If you’re looking for a dance for the times Cortege is it. P.S. For my design heads, Program A and C feature sets designed by Graham’s friend and collaborator, Isamu Noguchi
DOOMERS @ Brooklyn Center for Theater Research
(April 9th-19th)
I stumbled upon this play via the Instagram stories of Alexa West who is a dance artist and co-founder of Brooklyn’s home of emerging choreography and performance, Pageant. All this to say, I trust her eye. DOOMERS follows the unraveling of a tech company as its leaders clash over ambition, ethics, and the dangerous pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence. Rumour *alleges* that the play is based off the very public downfall of a certain Sam Altman.
LAMAMA MOVES! Dance Festival @ LaMaMa Experimental Arts Club
(April 10th-May 4th)
As you know, I’m a huge fan of festivals. They’re a low stakes way to sample a buffet of theater and take a chance on performances you might not normally see. LaMaMa is offering multi-show ticket packages that make the experience even more affordable. If you' don’t know where to start here are a few performances that caught my eye
Shared Program: Hunter College MFA / NYU Tisch MFA – Apr 18-20
Shared Program: Jesse Zaritt & Pamela Pietro / Jordan Demetrius Lloyd – April 25-27
El Club MEG – May 4
RHEOLOGY @ Bushwick Starr
(April 15th-May 3rd)
Rheology is the newest work from Pulitzer Finalist and Obie Winner Shayok Misha Chowdhury. In Rheology, Misha joins forces with his physicist mother, Bulbul Chakraborty. Bulbul is obsessed with the mystery of sand: how it flows, like a liquid, but then jams into a solid. Misha is obsessed with his mother. But they're running out of time. In this boundary-pushing new collaboration, an artist son challenges his scientist mother to a high-stakes experiment.
*SPECIAL EVENT*: LIVE CULTURES x NIGHT SCHOOL @ Miss Barb’s
(April 17th)
I’m going to be sharing a guest lecture at Night School, a community night dedicated to curiosity and connection, held monthly at Miss Barb’s. Hope to see you there!
BIG LOVE TO YOU ALL and see you at the theater or elsewhere! Until then, stay cultured xxx